Palestinian Police in Gaza

Hoping to avert a massive Israeli military operation in Gaza, the Palestinians have pledged to deploy police to Northern Gaza to stop the terrorists firing missiles and mortars into Israel. I am somewhat skeptical that the "police" will actually be willing or able to do anything, since they and the terrorists are often one and the same. More than likely, there will be a few days or weeks of relative calm (only a few mortars a day), and then the firing will resume as before. Israel will then need to do what it has been planning to do, an Operation Defensive Shield in Gaza. Israel Harel argues that such an operation, far from destroying Abbas's authority, could actually strengthen it.

Patrons of the Palestinian president should have been the first to demand that the IDF do in Beit Hanun and Khan Yunis what it did in Operation Defensive Shield in Nablus, Tul Karm, Qalqilyah, Ramallah and Hebron. And they should be demanding this not for Sderot, heaven forbid, but in order to save the presidency of Abu Mazen, because after the IDF crushes his opponents and withdraws - and no one in Israel wants the army to remain there - the Palestinian president will be able to stabilize his rule and, in keeping with the dreams of those who continue to believe in the honorable intentions of him and the rest of the Palestinians, become Israel's "partner for peace."